Chicago Tribune, Sept 11

FEAR, PERHAPS GAS TOO, FILLS MATTOON AIR
14 Calls Keep Police on Hunt Thru Rain

By Charles Ballenger
[Chicago Tribune Press Service]
Mattoon, Ill. Sept. 11 -- While armed squads of state police patrolled the streets in a drizzling rain tonight, Mattoon residents huddled fearfully in their homes with doors and windows barred against the "gas maniac" whose reported spray gun assaults have produced a mass hysteria.
Between nightfall and midnight, 14 calls were received at police headquarters from persons who fancied they detected symptoms of the paralyzing vapor the prowler is said to have sprayed thru open windows on several occasions since his first appearance ten days ago.
Mrs. Ivy Ketsell, 25, alone in a house in the northwest section of the city, said she was partially overcome by gas while lying in bed with the bedroom window open about 2 inches. A physician said he could detect no effects of gas but that there was a "peculiar odor" in the room. Mrs., Caroline Averell, 40, also alone in a house in the northwest section, said a sickish sweet gas became noticeable as she sat in her living room. She refused to submit to examination by a physician.

Calls Labeled False Alarms

Police Commissioner Thomas V. Wright said all of the other calls tonight were false alarms. They were answered promptly by state police who found they had been placed by persons, mostly women, suffering from fear induced by imagination. All complained of experiencing a burning feeling in their throat and of partial paralysis, Wright said, but no evidence of gas was found on examination. One woman was taken to a hospital and released after her panic subsided. There were eight squad cars and a mobile radio unit in the state police delegation which arrived today to help Mattoon police handle the situation.

Police Armed with Shotguns

Two state policemen, armed with shotguns, rode in each squad car, accompanied by a Mattoon civilian to direct them from place to place. Each car was radio equipped and was under the direction of the mobile unit, which acted as a clearing house on appeals for help from householders. Altho rain kept roaming groups of armed civilians off the streets tonight, the arrival of a police car at a residence was a sufficient signal to bring scores of men and boys pouring from adjacent homes.
The problem of combating the mass hysteria which has swept this town in the last two days has become more serious than the actual attacks, Wright today told a meeting of 70 business men.
Promising a speedy end to the almost nightly forays of the prowler, Wright asked that the townspeople put their guns and other weapons away and refrain from organizing posses.

Fatal Mistakes Feared

"Someone is going to be killed," he said, "and it won't be from gas. The people here have lost control of themselves in a manner which is almost unbelievable in a modern world." "I wouldn't walk thru somebody's back yard at night now for $10,000," said Wright. The Mattoon prowler began his activities on Sept. 2, when he was reported to have squirted gas into four homes. Since then he is said to have operated every night except Saturday. The story told by all his victims has been the same. As soon as the sweet sickish gas is detected the victims say they are overcome with nausea and suffer from a slight paralysis of the arms and legs. -- Tuesday, September 12, page 15